"Obesity. Gastrointestinal disorders. Skin irritations. Chronic yeast infections. Behavioral issues. Arthritis. Autoimmune diseases. Heart disease. Cancer. These are just a few of the common health conditions plaguing our dogs in skyrocketing — and in some cases epidemic — numbers.

These conditions might not appear to share much in common, but they all result from inflammation that originates at the deepest level in your dog’s body—his cells. Where does this inflammation come from? Much of it stems from the lifestyles our dogs share with us, their caretakers—and especially from their modern diet. As you will soon see, many of the foods that are marketed to nourish our dogs actually wreak havoc on them from the inside out,resulting in rampant obesity and chronic disease (Dodds, 2014; Dodds, 2014a). But it doesn’t have to be this way. "

A veterinarian for 50 years, Dr. Dodds is known worldwide for being at the forefront of veterinary science,
clinical research and animal welfare. She has 25 patents and has
authored numerous scientific papers, book chapters and two books. In 1986, she transplanted from upstate NY to southern California to start Hemopet,
the first non-profit national animal blood bank. Today, Hemopet’s range
of nonprofit services also include specialized diagnostic testing;
consulting in clinical pathology; and teaching for animal health care
professionals, kennel clubs, and pet owners on a variety of subjects
including nutrition and holistic medicine (www.hemopet.org).

This book opens a new chapter in her lifelong pursuit of animal health and an extraordinary opportunity for the dog and cat owner who is committed to creating a climate in which your family dogs can not merely survive, but thrive.

I learned so much after the health deterioration and deaths of my calico cat and my standard poodle.

Aimee suffered the negative effects of an unnecessary rabies vaccination which I thought would protect her. Combined with a biologically inappropriate kibble diet, this one-two punch set off chronic kidney failure and a roller-coaster 18 month decline.

Matisse suffered the negative effects of everything. Breeding. Over-vaccination. Environment. His immune system over-reacted to everything. While this hyper-reactivity didn't kill him in the extremes of Immune-mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA) or Immune-mediated Thrombocytopenia (IMT), it did make him miserable. Patchy hair loss. Goopy ears. Runny nose. Gummy eyes. Racking cough. Barring steroids and their undesirable side effects, there was little available to alleviate his symptoms. I don't know if I will ever get past the profound sense of helplessness that I experienced in the last four years of his life.

After much trial, many errors and deep angst, I realized that feeding him a biologically appropriate diet was the only thing I could control. And to whatever extent, this resolved many health issues and improved his quality of life.

I know now what I did not know then:

Vibrant health begins in the cells. We have the power to transform a dog’s cellular health with nutrigenomics. Nutrigenomics (a
combination of the words nutrition and genome) is the study of how the
foods we - and our pets - eat “speak” to our cells to regulate gene
expression, which in turn plays a huge role in determining whether a
person or animal will live a life of vibrant health or one plagued by
illness.

In this ground-breaking new study, authors W. Jean Dodds, DVM and Diana Laverdure reveal:
• How to tell which foods create optimum gene expression and vibrant
health at the cellular level and which foods lead to chronic disease.
• The amazing healing power of functional foods.

• The “Three Keys” to easily creating a foundation diet for your dog based on the principles of nutrigenomics.

• How to use functional ingredients to treat, manage and even reverse a wide variety of chronic canine health conditions.

• The 10 “canine functional superfoods” and how they can supercharge your dog’s health by optimizing his gene expression.

• The signs of a food intolerance/sensitivity and how to stop it in its tracks.

...and much more!

Breeding. Environment. Health care. Animal control laws. There are many factors of pet wellness that are beyond our control. Nutrition does not have to be one.

Just as we inherited our genes from our parents, our epigenome also has a cellular memory that can be passed from one generation to the next (The University of Utah, 2014). This means that a mother and father’s lifestyle decisions — including the quality of their diet — will influence the epigenome of their offspring! Unlike the genome,however, we can alter our epigenome over time with new environmental signals, such as optimum nutrition. And that is exactly what you will learn to do with your dog’s diet!

January 03, 2014

October 23, 2013 the Texas Board of Veterinary medical
Examiners reprimanded a Vet for incorrectly telling clients that animals need
an annual rabies vaccine when the animals had received three year rabies
vaccines. As far as I know, this is the first time the Board has ruled that giving
unnecessary vaccines is not dealing honestly with the public. Hopefully this opens
the door to stopping misrepresentation of other vaccines.

The Missouri Board ruled that if a Veterinarian deviates from the
AAHA guidelines or the AFP guidelines, they must have solid scientific evidence
to support their recommendations.

September 28, 2013

As I listen to an interview of Dr. Nancy Kay with Terri Gross, NPR Fresh Air A Veterinarian Advises How to Speak for Spot, I am reminded of a line from the movie, Jerry McGuire: "First class used to mean a better meal. Now it means a better life."

Does first class means a better life for your dog too?

Advances in veterinary medicine offer a host of diagnostic procedures and treatment options that are amazing. Stem cell therapy regenerative medicine for dogs with arthritis. Chemotherapy for cats with cancer. Radiography. Biopsy. CT scans. MRI Just about any diagnostic procedure, treatment and drug that is available to the human animal is also available to dogs and cats. Their costs are equally astonishing.

I've labored on this post for weeks striving for objectivity.
What would diagnostic tests have looked like for Matisse? What treatment
options
were available? What was the prognosis? Did I miss an opportunity to
improve his quality of life? Did I make a mistake? Did I let him suffer out of my own inability to let go?

In
the last three or four years of his life, he was plagued with symptoms
of chronic disease - chronic bronchitis, laryngeal paralysis and otitis
media, middle ear infection. Diagnosing and treating them started with
anesthesia and ended with antibiotics, antacid, corticosteroidal drugs.
Even with the best veterinary care available, the prognosis was
uncertain.

Once permanent damage occurs in the airways, chronic bronchitis is incurable.

A
surgical solution for laryngeal paralysis may have made breathing
easier; it would not have stopped the progressive degeneration of nerves
caused by Geriatric Onset Laryngeal Paralysis Polyneuropathy (GOLPP.)
He would still have experienced hind-end weakness and generalized
muscle wasting over several years. It is not painful and
affected dogs are still bright, alert and happy. And it would have left
him more vulnerable to bacterial pneumonia are common.

We'd been there.

The
middle ear problem was a constant reminder of how utterly unknowable
and uncontrollable the side effects of antibiotics. It began subsequent
to a six-week course of antibiotics for bacterial pneumonia. We cured the pneumonia and left him with an ear oozing a river of pus. The
protocol to diagnose it involves a general flush under anesthesia.

Let me stop you at anesthesia.

After Matisse
was diagnosed with chronic bronchitis, I simply would not take the risk
of having him slip away without me at his side.

If that's being a Bad Mommy, so be it.

So why am I still belaboring this?

For many people, costs are a consideration. It hurts to own that. We may feel guilty that the decision comes down to cash. We may feel ashamed of our poverty or our selfishness. But financial resources are a fact.

How do we strike a balance between what we want for our companion animals and our own best interests?

Dr. Nancy suggests pretending you have all the
money in the world. What would you do?

Once you are clear on this, you can figure out how to pay for the treatment
plan. Finance it. Get a second job. Take out a second mortgage. Liquidate
assets. Take on more debt. When all is said and done, you can tell yourself
that you did everything in your power to relieve your dog or cat of its pain.

Certainly these are ways. Even if they are workable, are they wise? Are they
even necessary?

First, throwing a lot of money at a problem may not be the best recourse for
your dog or cat.

As Dr. Nancy points out in her interview, a cat that hates car
travel may not be a good candidate for chemotherapy. Moreover, the benefit of
investing upwards of $10,000 in surgery, radiation and chemotherapy may not
out-weigh the risk. Feline vaccine-associated sarcoma (VAS) is incurable. If
you knew that you were only buying a year of life, much of it recovering from surgery, would you still put your cat through
this?

I know people who have done this. They are not rich people, but wage earners
who financed the treatment over five years. They lost their beloved cat before
they paid off the bills. Without exception, they feel ill-advised by the
veterinarians. Bitter.

Second, there’s often more than one right answer. This is the advantage of
having a veterinarian partner on your health care team with a consultative
approach rather than blindly following the advice of one who
tells you what to do.

Should you give your dog antibiotics when there's
no evidence of a bacterial infection? Perform a diagnostic test when it's not
clear how the results might change what happens next? Vaccinate for "the
works" without knowing which diseases he might be exposed to?

Asked this way, these questions almost seem silly,
but I must tell you that, as an internist who receives referrals and provides
second opinions, I encounter situations where testing was performed or
treatment administered that truly didn't make sense in the case at hand. If
your veterinarian is prescribing care that, in your mind, doesn't
"jive" with your dog's problem, I encourage you to question,
investigate, poke, and prod, until things "click."

Dr. Nancy offers a laundry list of objective criteria to help you make your decision.

1. What are the facts?
As Dr. Nancy points out, there is extensive information available about
medical conditions, diagnostic testing and treatment plans. Merck Veterinary Manual,
the same "bible" veterinarians access is available online for anyone to
use. Information on drug benefits, risks and side effects is also available online.
Research on canine and feline disease and treatments published in
medical journals online. Ask Dr. Google. Then confer with your
veterinarian. Yes, it's a foreign language. You can learn.

2. Does the medical plan make sense?
Every shot, blood draw, drug or test has a risk and a benefit. Is it
wise to vaccinate a dog or cat that is sick or stressed? Is it prudent
to vaccinate a puppy while maternal immunity is still protecting its
system? Is every diagnostic test under the sun necessary to formulate a
treatment plan? Sometimes going to extremes is simply not necessary.

3. What does your dog or cat think about it?
No one knows better the likes and dislikes of your companion animal
than you. Dr. Kay advises to consider your pet's emotional response to
veterinary care. My cat hated riding in the car. My dog loved it.
Getting into that mindset, I suspect that my cat would have said, "Leave
me alone. When I need something, I'll ask." and my dog? "Ain't no big
thang, Mom." That's the difference between dogs and cats.

Dr. Kay raises more good questions to ask in order to support your decision-making. But in the end, it all boils down to what serves your peace of mind?

Every medical procedure and medicine has a risk as well as a benefit. Can you accept the outcome if it brings a worse case or the worst of all cases - death?

As the caretaker of family pets, our job is to give them what they need to thrive. Not just shelter, but habitat. Not just food, but nourishment. Not just exercise, but play. Included in this is medicine or medical intervention that helps without causing
undue distress or long-lasting harm. To our animals and to ourselves.

It is neither germane nor fair to ask: what would your dog or cat say about this?

Dogs and cats live in the moment. Given they have no concept of past and
no anticipation of future, they are living testimony of acceptance: "it
is what it is."

When the possibility of laryngeal paralysis
made its debut in 2009, we went from never hearing Matisse in the back
seat on our car rides to only hearing him. Heavy panting. Roar
(breathing like a freight train). Stridor (high-pitched squealing on
exhale.) I was concerned. He was just happy to be riding in the car.

When
his back legs no longer obeyed his will, meaning he could no longer
jump onto the sofa to sit by me, I grew sad. He just adapted, putting
his front legs up to signal that he'd have a boost now, Mom.

Throughout his final months, he may have felt punk; he never felt sorry for himself.

By
domesticating them, we have made dogs and cats our responsibility. But
just because they've adapted to co-exist with humans doesn't mean that
they think or feel like humans.

Given their
way, independent cats are perfectly content to hunt and scavenge as
solitary creatures. They only hook up when nature calls. Social dogs
find buddies and roam, hunt, mate and play as packs.

Everything
we do for our companion animals' best interests is for us.

After we let Matisse go, I regretted that I had not pursued more information and said so to Dr. Bouloy:

"I should have done the tests."

He put me at ease:

"It would not have changed the outcome."

And therein lies the value of Dr. Kay's book.

As pet parents, we need the willingness to do our homework before agreeing to any course of action. We need the courage to question, challenge and say "no," if it feels wrong or too risky. Unless it's an emergency, there's always room for a second opinion. And we need the commitment to find a veterinarian we trust and respect, who trusts and respects us, and who's willing to work with us and whatever resources we have available.

And when they go, as they inevitably must, we need to make peace with our decisions. We did the best we could with the information and resources that were available to us at the time. But did we truly speak our companion animal's mind?

Share this!

Aimee 1993 2007

Rabies Law Reform Starts with Knowledge

Aimee's Law provides frequent updates on efforts in Texas and nationwide to align local rabies laws with current vaccine science and to urge lawmakers to make allowances for sick and senior dogs and cats when they are in the care of a licensed veterinarian.

Aimee, Galena, IL - 1996

Why Aimee's Law Blog

Centuries from now it will not matter about the house we lived in or how much money we made in a lifetime.....but the world may be better because we helped some of God's little animals on this earth during our time here. ~Anonymous

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Disclaimer

Any information obtained on this web site is of my own research and opinion. The information contained on this web site is provided for your general information only. It is not my intention to give medical advice or to practice veterinary medicine. I do not recommend a particular treatment for specific dogs or cats. In all cases, I recommend that you do your own research and discuss your thoughts and concerns with an ethical veterinarian before pursuing any course of treatment.